U.S. Supreme Court asked to halt Florida's execution of Loran Cole over Parkinson's symptoms

With condemned killer Loran Cole scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison, his attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution because of issues related to his symptoms from Parkinson’s disease.

The attorneys filed a petition at the U.S. Supreme Court and a motion for a stay of execution after the Florida Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal. The petition and the motion, filed Sunday, contend that the case should be sent back to a lower court for an evidentiary hearing about whether the state's lethal-injection procedures would cause "needless pain and suffering" because of Cole's symptoms from the disease.

“Cole now experiences shaking in both of his arms from his neck to his fingertips and in his legs,” the petition said. “Cole’s Parkinson’s symptoms will make it impossible for Florida to safely and humanely carry out his execution because his involuntary body movements will affect the placement of the intravenous lines necessary to carry out an execution by lethal injection.”

The Florida Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Marion County circuit judge’s decision that rejected such arguments.

“On the whole, Cole’s allegations of potential problems with venous access are both speculative and legally insufficient,” the Florida Supreme Court opinion said. “The postconviction (circuit) court properly summarily denied the claim.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis on July 29 signed a death warrant for Cole, who was sent to Death Row in the February 1994 murder of Florida State University student John Edwards in the Ocala National Forest.

Edwards went to the national forest to camp with his sister, a student at Eckerd College. Cole and another man, William Paul, joined the brother and sister at their campsite.

After they decided to walk to a pond, Cole knocked Edwards’ sister to the ground and ultimately handcuffed her, according to court records. Paul took the sister up a trail, and Edwards died from a slashed throat and blows to the head that fractured his skull. Edwards’ sister was sexually assaulted and was tied to two trees the next morning before freeing herself. (In most cases, The News Service of Florida does not identify sexual-assault victims by name.)

Cole, 57, would be the first inmate executed in Florida since October, when Michael Duane Zack was put to death by lethal injection for a 1996 murder in Escambia County.

After DeSantis signed the death warrant, Cole’s attorneys argued that the execution should be halted because of the Parkinson’s disease symptoms and issues related to abuse Cole suffered as a teen at the state’s notorious Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna. The attorneys said the jury that recommended a death sentence did not know about the abuse he suffered at Dozier. Also, the attorneys have pointed to a law that DeSantis signed this year to compensate some victims of abuse at Dozier, though the law would not apply to Cole.
[content-1] But Marion County Circuit Judge Robert Hodges and the Florida Supreme Court ruled against Cole. The petition and the motion for a stay filed at the U.S. Supreme Court do not focus on the Dozier issue.

The documents contend, in part, that executing Cole by lethal injection could violate the constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.”

“When placing an intravenous line, each failed attempt creates a one-and-done for that vein,” the petition said. “Each attempt is singularly painful, and the pain will only escalate with each successive attempt to place an intravenous line. Should FDOC (the Florida Department of Corrections) fail to find a peripheral vein in Cole’s arms or legs, the lethal injection protocol directs the placement of a central intravenous line. The skill needed to do this is beyond an average person capable of placing intravenous lines in the arms or legs. The central vein location includes the groin, the neck, and below the collarbone.”

In a brief filed at the Florida Supreme Court, Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office disputed he Parkinson’s argument, in part because Cole waited to raise it until after the death warrant was signed. Cole has had Parkinson’s symptoms since 2017, according to court documents.

“There is no reason in law or fact for Cole to wait years to raise this claim now under an active death warrant,” Moody’s office wrote in the state-court brief.

The motion for a stay at the U.S. Supreme Court also raised a new issue, saying Cole is a “necessary witness” in an Iowa murder case. It said Cole in 1986 testified against Daniel Brian Harris as a “jailhouse snitch,” helping lead to Harris’ conviction for first-degree murder.

The motion said Cole has recanted his testimony and took part in a June deposition about the Harris case.

“Cole’s presence is required so that justice may be served in another jurisdiction, on behalf of Daniel Harris and the citizens of Iowa,” the motion said.

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